Pages

Friday, 18 April 2014

Oasis Thought

By Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga

A bubble pops on the surface. Lena raises an eyebrow. Could
the well water have reached a boiling point already? In this shade?

Her bucket splashes through the sweet
stuff and draws it out. Briefly, she dips a finger into the liquid and places a
drop on her tongue. Ah, good, she thinks. Cool as ice. Her eyes close of their
own accord. Ice, what a thought. In this desert? Lena slowly shakes her head.
Only an oasis could procure such a phenomenon, where water becomes cool under
bountiful shade.

“You have savoured this moment for
well over an hour,” the boy whispers in her ear. “Your family is waiting.”

At this Lena begs, “Please, please
let me stay a while longer.”

The boy’s voice withdraws from her
ear.

“So you shall.”

Her eyes still closed, Lena imagines
a kingdom covered in ice.

Glittering frost covers every inch of
it like the finest sand. Wind whips up a few crystals and wraps them around a
palace, brilliant in its whiteness. The gates open and the wind navigates
through slick, polished halls, finally finding its target when a pair of doors
yield to its push.

Standing in her throne room, Lena
embraces the wind like an old friend, letting it penetrate into her pores and
fling her hair in light waves of cool. Gradually, her fingers and toes become
numb.

Wonderful, Lena thinks. Here is a
world where numbness is possible, where nothing can choke you breathless.

Indeed, Lena’s blood begins to shiver
with the prospect of being choked as the wind only whirls faster around her.
She frowns a bit, surprised that the cold would start to feel this way: a
smouldering fire racing through her arteries. Her veins close up.

It is then that a disturbing image
forms in front of her.

Cleverly disguised as the wind, the
figure of a man pulls back from her, his features swiftly being carved into a
firm chin, a set mouth, vulnerable almond eyes…

Too late Lena backs away, hugging
herself to make the coldness of his touch all over her body evaporate. It is no
use. The cold has penetrated throughout every corner of her being and it burns
like nothing has burned her since she lost him.

Opening her eyes, Lena hastens to the
well but the splashing water reveals his hand reaching for her face. Fleeing
from destruction, Lena races onto the desert sand where the heat scorches her
frigid body with the intensity of a thousand bolts of lightning.

They find her face first in the sand,
her empty bucket clutched in one hand.

4 comments:

I love that this follows on really well from your last story, 'The Lady in Black'. Seems like a great theme for a novel or longer collection of short stories - if you're not already planning something like this!

You betcha it is! ;) I'm writing a novel with this theme titled 'Lady in Black, Lady in White'. It's on wattpad.com for all to see. There are just so many things I can add to its universe.~http://www.wattpad.com/46260515-lady-in-black-lady-in-white-the-realm%27s-rhyme

Very nice. Loved the way you've described the characters and the scenes, excellent read! If you would be interested in participating in an online short story contest, then do check out Tallenge- http://www.tallenge.com/contest/literaturestsorycontet.html You can sign up, upload your work and compete with writers around the world. It's free to join and winner prize money is $100!